Chasing Data Centers? Here’s the Map — By Trade.

Everyone is chasing data centers right now.

From hyperscale campuses making headlines to smaller upgrades quietly entering bid, the category feels like a single, massive opportunity. But treating “data centers” as one market is a mistake—and an expensive one for business development teams.

Because this market isn’t moving in one direction or on one timeline.
It’s fragmenting by trade, scope, risk, and timing.

Some firms should be pursuing work immediately.
Others should be positioning carefully—and waiting.
A few should not be spending pursuit dollars at all yet.

What follows is not a list of projects. It’s a pursuit map: a trade-by-trade framework for deciding what to chase, when to engage, and when discipline matters more than optimism.

HVAC CONTRACTORS

Pursue now: Institutional upgrades and retrofits

The most reliable HVAC opportunities in the data center market today are not hyperscale campuses. They are existing facilities with immediate reliability needs.

These include:

CRAC replacements and supplemental cooling
Full HVAC system replacements
Temporary-to-permanent cooling transitions
Universities, hospitals, airports, and federal facilities

Why this work is real:

Scopes are defined
Budgets are allocated
Failures are already occurring
Owners cannot tolerate downtime

These projects reward firms that understand redundancy, phasing, live-facility work, and commissioning coordination—not just equipment.

Watch carefully: Hyperscale campuses

Large campuses will matter, but HVAC firms should engage selectively and conservatively until:

Power delivery is confirmed
Cooling topology is specified
Early enabling or shell packages are released

Until then, these are future opportunities, not near-term backlog.

HVAC takeaway:
2026 revenue will come from upgrades and retrofits. Campuses remain a positioning exercise.

BAS / CONTROLS INTEGRATORS

Pursue now: Institutional and municipal upgrades

Controls are quietly embedded in many active projects:

HVAC + BAS combined scopes
Energy monitoring upgrades
Federal and municipal reliability initiatives

These projects favor integrators who can:

Demonstrate system integration maturity
Support operational visibility
Navigate owner IT and cybersecurity constraints

This is not commodity controls work—it’s infrastructure modernization.

Position early: Large campuses

Mega-campuses with energy narratives (on-site generation, hydrogen, grid-interactive strategies) will eventually require sophisticated control architectures.

Engage early as:

Advisors
Concept-level architects
Integration strategists

Avoid early pricing or competitive bidding until scope hardens.

Controls takeaway:
Monetize retrofit work now. Treat campuses as relationship investments, not sales targets.

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS

Pursue aggressively: Power upgrades and distribution

Electrical contractors are among the most consistently well-positioned trades right now.

Active opportunities include:

UPS replacements
Switchgear and distribution upgrades
Redundancy improvements
Airport, healthcare, and federal facilities

These owners understand risk, schedule, and compliance—and procurement paths are usually formal and predictable.

Selective pursuit: Campuses

Campus opportunities become real only when:

Substations are announced
Utility interconnects are approved
Early power packages are released

Until then, electrical firms should monitor, not chase.

Electrical takeaway:
Follow confirmed power, not speculative megawatts.

CIVIL / SITE CONTRACTORS

Best positioned trade (mid-term)

Civil and site contractors are often the first true beneficiaries of large data center campuses.

Why:

Site work precedes vertical construction
Design certainty is lower, but land and utilities move first
Enabling packages unlock real dollars early

This includes:

Grading and paving
Utilities and stormwater
Environmental mitigation
Site access and infrastructure

Timing matters

Engage when:

Zoning is resolved
Permits advance
Environmental filings surface

Avoid overcommitting pursuit resources before land and approvals are locked.

Civil takeaway:
Campuses are real—but only once the dirt starts moving.

FIRE SUPPRESSION / LIFE SAFETY

Pursue now: Regulated environments

Fire suppression firms are well positioned in:

Hospitals
Universities
Federal facilities
Live-facility retrofits

Clean agent systems and code-driven upgrades are often explicitly scoped and face limited competition from qualified bidders.

Position later: Campuses

Suppression scopes typically lag building shell and interior layouts. Early pursuit on campuses is premature without rack density and floor plans.

Suppression takeaway:
Compliance-driven urgency beats speculative scale.

COMMISSIONING / TESTING / QA FIRMS

High-value, underappreciated opportunity

Commissioning firms are increasingly critical in:

Live-facility upgrades
Redundancy validation
Shutdown coordination
Federal and healthcare environments

These projects cannot tolerate failure—and fewer firms can credibly operate in them.

Strategic positioning: Campuses

Commissioning should enter early as:

Risk mitigation advisors
Redundancy strategists
Operational validation partners

Avoid positioning commissioning as a late-stage checkbox.

Commissioning takeaway:
This is becoming a decision driver, not an afterthought.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — THE PURSUIT MAP

Trade	Best Near-Term Focus	Campus Strategy
HVAC	Retrofits, CRAC replacements	Wait for power + scope
BAS / Controls	Institutional upgrades	Advisory positioning
Electrical	UPS, switchgear, distribution	Follow substations
Civil / Site	Enabling and infrastructure work	Engage early
Suppression	Healthcare & federal upgrades	Enter late
Commissioning	Live-facility modernization	Thought leadership

AIM Insight

The biggest mistake firms will make in the next 12–24 months is chasing data centers as a single market.

The smarter move is disciplined:

Monetize upgrades and modernization now
Position thoughtfully for campuses
Align pursuit timing with trade reality

Mega-projects shape the future.
Retrofits, infrastructure, and execution discipline pay the bills.

For more information or help in chasing, contact AIM.

______________________________________________

Methodology Note

This analysis is based on a review of 21 U.S. data center–related construction projects updated between February 6–9, 2026, sourced from publicly available project tracking and procurement records. Project stages (planning, bidding, post-bid, construction underway), estimated values, scopes, and timelines reflect the most recent disclosures available at the time of review. Aggregate dollar values are rounded and intended to illustrate order-of-magnitude activity rather than forecast outcomes. Trade-level observations are derived from stated scopes (e.g., HVAC, electrical, BAS, site work, suppression) and the presence or absence of bid dates, permitting milestones, and power or zoning confirmations. Interpretive conclusions reflect market structure and timing signals observed across the dataset and are not projections or guarantees of award, start date, or final project scope.